Research Interest: In collaboration with M. Belinda Tucker, Mitchell-Kernan has examined the social context and social psychological correlates of current family formation behaviors and attitudes in twenty-one cities. In collaboration with Robert Edgerton, Mitchell-Kernan has identified family features that influence adolescent risk behavior in three African descended populations. Mitchell-Kernan and colleagues have also identified cultural features that influence adolescent risk behavior in those populations as well as ecocultural factors that influence family functioning.